I want to adopt the mindset of a tree. A grand old tree is the metaphor for the life I want to lead that positively influences the next 300 years.
We read in Psalm 1 that the blessed man – whose delight is meditating on God’s law day and night — is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” There is profound tree imagery from Genesis to Revelation.
The structure of a tree reflects both the past and the present. Did you know that less than 5% of the mass of a tree is alive? The leaves, flowers, the thin layers of xylem and phloem under the protective bark, and water/mineral absorption layers in the roots are alive. Everything else is residual history of previously living tissue. The past shapes and supports the living. Damages sustained in storms and by insects will slowly be repaired by living tissue.
Trees send their roots deep and wide for water and minerals. Their roots cling powerfully to the earth. Given a choice to ram my car into a tree or a telephone pole of the same diameter I would opt for the telephone pole. Rare is the wind strong enough to push a tree hard enough to pull it out of the earth.
Trees hold their head and branches skyward, reaching for the sun. A mature, healthy oak tree can have 200,000 leaves. During 60 years of life that oak grows and sheds nearly two tons of leaves. About 70% of the nutrients a tree takes from the soil will be returned in the leaves.
Trees are rigidly flexible. Trees endure seasonal heat and cold, wet and dry, winds, insect and disease. Trees don’t pack up and move to new locations in good time or bad. They are where they are, and no matter the weather they stand firm. Yet trees are flexible. Their leaves adjust position to better capture sunlight. Limbs and branches can sway and bend without breaking. Trees are resilient benders; they quickly recover their original position.
Trees provide security and food for other plants and animals. Vines, moss, lichens, many insects, small rodents, and some predators view trees as refuge. They produce abundant flowers, fruits, nuts, and seeds, scattering them to the world. The produce oxygen from carbon dioxide.
Trees are anchors of ecosystems. They can purify water. They hold soil in place, limiting water’s power of erosion. Decaying leaves and needles shift the pH of the soil to match their preference. Trees change the temperature of the surrounding air; the transpiration of water shapes the microclimate around trees. They shape the wind. Solomon is said to have planted trees to transform the desert. Workers ringed rocks around the base of the tree to condense moisture from the air when the desert cooled at night, dripping into the rocky soil to sustain the tree. Over the years the trees grew and changed the desert into forest and fields that could be cultivated. The Assyrians, Persians, and Romans all knew one of the fastest ways to destroy an enemy’s homeland is to cut down all the trees.
Every tree is unique, and can stand alone, yet trees thrive best when they are together with other trees. Trees communicate with other trees through chemical signals, both above and below ground.
Even in death a tree leaves a legacy that nurtures and sustains. Their wood is valuable. Dead trees become home to different insects and animals than live trees. Decaying trees enrich the soil of forests. The roots of a tree continues to stabilize the earth for many years after its death.
So what must I do to be tree-like?
- Send roots deep into wisdom
- Hold my head and hands up to heaven
- Patiently endure
- Bear fruit generously
- Anchor and interact with the ecosystem where I have been planted
- Provide space for others to live and thrive
- Translate my past into present strength
